Samsung Galaxy S4 mini launched with 1.7GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.2

Samsung has officially announced its Galaxy S4 mini smartphone, a compact version of Samsung's flagship smartphone.Samsung Galaxy S4 mini is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor along with 1.5GB of RAM. It packs in 8GB of internal storage of which 5GB is user accessible. The internal storage can be further expanded by up to 64GB with the help of a microSD card.
The smartphone comes with 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display. For camera, there is an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.9-megapixel HD front-facing camera. The camera of Samsung Galaxy S4 mini also supports additional features like Sound&Shot. Apart from this, the images clicked through the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini are automatically gathered and saved according to the user's timeline, geo-tagging information, or a specific event to create a photo album.
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) and has a 1,900mAh battery. It also supports Group Play feature, S Translator and S Health, all found in Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4.
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini had leaked extensively over the past couple of months and there were speculations being made that this smartphone will be unveiled at the June 20 event being held in London along with other Galaxy and Ativ devices.
Samsung will be offering the Galaxy S4 mini smartphone in two colours options - White Frost and Black Mist. As per the company, the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will support either 4G LTE, or 3G HSPA+ or 3G Dual-SIM. The connectivity option will vary across different regions.
Samsung had officially launched Galaxy S4 smartphone at a gala event on March 14, 2013. It has been recently introduced in India for Rs. 41, 500. The company recently announced that it has managed to ship over 10 million units of the smartphone.

Google Chrome has 750 million active users, increased two times since last I/O conference

Google Chrome is definitely one of the highlights of the ongoing Google I/O conference. The gist of Chrome-focused presentation was the increasing number of Chrome web browser users in the recent month and the fact that most of them are coming from mobile. Sundar Pichai, Google’s Senior Vice President for Chrome and Android, and Linus Upson, VP of engineering, presided the Chrome-based presentation at the Google I/O.

More mobile users for Chrome?

Chrome, Google’s home-brewed web browser, has 300 million active new users since the I/O conference last year. Currently, it has 750 million active users, revealed Pichai, although neither Pichai nor Upson said how many of them are mobile users. Upson also showed how a Chrome web browser can be used to mimic your Android tablet experience by running gaming apps. It showed that if the user starts a race or begins a function on a touchscreen Android tablet, he will be able to see the same game on the desktop browser. He also demoed Racer, which is a multiplayer Chrome experiment that allows using Chrome across up to five devices.

Chrome mobile is getting faster, with improved performance. The performance has been improved more than 50 percent on mobile on comparison with 25 percent speedier on desktop. The Chrome OS is a computer system based on the Chrome browser, but nothing much was spoken about Chromebooks or the OS. However, we could hear a lot about later this year.

Apple App Store hits 50 billion downloads

Apple lovers out there celebrated yesterday when the Apple App Store officially ticked off its 50 billionth download. The milestone came just under two weeks after the company announced that it was reaching the number.

The milestone also brought to an end the promotional venture that the company had launched, called “50 billion app download”. The end of the promotion will now have one iOS user getting a $10,000 gift voucher, which can be used on the App Store, Mac App Store, or any other iTunes Store content, while 50 other users who will get a $500 gift voucher.

A vote of thanks, the Apple way. (photo credit: Apple)

What is interesting about this is that the milestone was reached around the time that Google was announcing its own downloads numbers in its Google I/O developer’s conference. The number took four years for the Apple App Store to reach. Apple celebrated an earlier milestone when it hit the 25 billionth downloads mark just over a year ago. In the 14 months since, the App Store has seen the number double, which is a feat in terms of both scale and size.

The download numbers of the App Store, which was launched in 2008, shows a huge growth rate. The company acknowledged this by a graphic showing the word “thanks” on its website. This graphic was made using an iPad app, Paper by fifty three.

With the last 14 months showing an exponential increase in the app downloads, the estimated time for the next few milestones is tough to estimate. If the numbers are broken down, the App Store now has over 20 billion downloads a year, or over 50 million downloads a day. And while the lucky iOS user who won the app voucher has not been revealed, it seems that the speed and scale of the store’s growth may see many more winners in the future.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini to run on 1.6GHz dual-core Exynos 5210 processor

We've known for some time that Samsung has been working on variants of the Galaxy S4. Thanks to OLED-Display, we now have some more details about one of the variants – the Galaxy S4 Mini. While we already knew that the S4 Mini would be running on a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, we now know that it will be an Exynos 5210 chip.

There will be two variants of the S4 Mini – a regular one with 1GB of RAM and an LTE-enabled one with 2GB of RAM. The LTE-enabled version presumably has more RAM because it will be forced to use a weaker processor because of the need for an LTE chip. It will run on Android 4.0 out of the box and all of this will be kept alive by a 2100 mAh battery. Those interested in photography will probably like the S4 Mini's 8 megapixel camera, which would be the same shooter as the one on last year's Galaxy S3.

Will probably end up being a bigger version of the S3 Mini with more contemporary hardware

Earlier today, we saw a photograph taken with another one of the S4's variants – the camera-centric Galaxy S4 Zoom. The photo, titled Morning View, was taken by Shahriar Hossain, who incidentally works with Samsung. It seems to have been edited using the SnapSeed photo editor.

Of what is known at the moment, the S4 Zoom will have a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen with a qHD resolution, which is considerably smaller than the 5-inch full HD screen on the S4. The S4 Zoom is said to have 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot that can be used to expand memory up to 64GB. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi and A-GPS. It will come with Android Jelly bean with Samsung's own TouchWiz Nature UX.

Another S4 variant, the Galaxy S4 Active recently obtained its Bluetooth certification and had shown up on the website for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

The S4 Active is said to be a ruggedised version of the S4. It will have a shock-resistant design and will bear the IP certifications to make it waterproof and dustproof. The handset's codename is GT-I9295 and, as per an earlier report, it will be available in Metallic Orange.

All of this – the waterproof and dustproof design – put the Galaxy S4 Active in direct competition with Sony's flagship Xperia Z as well as the recently-announced Xperia ZR. If Samsung manages to avoid Sony's missteps, the company could have a winner in its hands.

BlackBerry R10 Curve to feature 2180 mAh battery

BlackBerry is yet to release the BlackBerry Q10 and meanwhile is preparing smartphones to succeed the Curve line-up. As per the fresh report by N4BB website, the BlackBerry R10 Curve series smartphone will arrive with a QWERTY keyboard and will feature 2180 mAh battery inside. Of course, there would be subtle differences between the Q10 and the R10 smartphones though both carry a physical QWERTY keyboard.
The upcoming BlackBerry R10 will be yet another physical QWERTY keyboard bearing device but will come with BlackBerry OS 10.1 pre-loaded.

The BlackBerry R10 will feature a 3.1-inch touchscreen display with 720x720 pixel resolution. It will have a 5 megapixel camera at the back to shoot high quality images and a front facing camera for video chat.

Packing 2 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage, this smartphone will support memory cards as well. The only sad part would be the 2180 mAh power packing battery which would be non-removable. Hence, we expect more compact and lighter design of the BlackBerry R10.
Surprising part is that the BlackBerry R10 will get the battery power more than the BlackBerry Z10. Affordable BlackBerry devices with QWERTY keyboard are still in demand and with the BlackBerry OS 10.1 in pipeline, the company can hope for better welcome of the R10.

Nokia unveils Asha 501, revamps Asha platform

Nokia has unveiled Asha 501, the first phone from a new family of Asha phones that will run a revamped operating system that Nokia is calling the Asha platform.

The full-touch phone will be available in single and EasySwap dual-SIM variants and feature a 3-inch QVGA TFT capacitive display. It will be available in six colours - Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black.

The Asha 501 will feature a 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity and will offer a 4GB memory card in the box. The phone supports microSD cards of up to 32GB. The phone does not offer 3G connectivity.

While the exact capacity of the phone's battery is not known, Nokia claims that the phone will offer standby time of up to 48 days with single SIM and 26 days with dual-SIM. The phone weighs 98 grams.
"The new Nokia Asha 501 raises the bar for what is possible in affordable smartphone design and optimization," said Timo Toikkanen, executive vice president, Mobile Phones, Nokia. "The synergy between the physical design and the engine that is the new Asha platform has created a smartphone with both style and substance at a great price."

The Nokia Asha 501 is expected to start shipping in June 2013 at a suggested pricing of $99 before taxes and subsidies. It is expected to be available through approximately 60 operators and distributors in more than 90 countries worldwide.

The Asha 501 is the first smartphone built on the new Asha platform, which leverages Nokia's investments in Smarterphone, a company which Nokia acquired in 2012 and builds on S40/ Series40, Nokia's feature phone platform.

Nokia claims that the new Asha software platform provides developers with an open standards-based environment for creating quality apps for consumers. Developers will be create apps for the Nokia Asha 501 that will be compatible with future Asha platform-based devices. Nokia has also introduced tools like Nokia In-App Payment and Nokia Advertising Exchange (NAX), in addition to its operator billing network to offer monetization options to app developers.

Nokia says that many of the most popular applications are already available or in development for the Nokia Asha platform, including apps from CNN, eBuddy, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, World of Red Bull and games from Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai and Reliance Games. WhatsApp and other key partners will also offer apps for the new Asha.

The HERE experience, based on Nokia's location platform, will also be available as a download for the Nokia Asha 501, starting in Q3 2013 and will initially include basic mapping services.

Nokia Lumia 928 with Windows Phone 8 officially launched in the US

Nokia will sell a new high-end smartphone through U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless, it said on Friday, aiming to expand its share in the high-margin premium market after years of falling behind Samsung <005930.KS> and Apple Inc .The new Lumia 928, priced at $99 if customers mail-in a $50 rebate and agree to a two-year deal with Verizon Wireless , is similar to the 920 model currently sold through AT&T , but is lighter and slightly different in appearance.
It weighs 162 grams compared with 185 grams for the 920, which some critics had said was too heavy.
The 928's 4.5-inch screen also extends to the edge of the phone, giving a sharper impression than the curved edges of the 920. The new models also come in black and white compared with the colourful options of the earlier Lumia range.
Most other features, such as a 8.7 megapixel camera and 1.5-gigahertz dual core processor by Qualcomm, are the same as the 920's.
The 928 is the latest in Nokia's Lumia range of smartphones which use Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software.
Nokia switched to Windows in 2011, aiming to compete with Apple's iPhones and rivals using Google's Android system. Sales of Lumia phones have grown in recent quarters, but at 5.6 million in first quarter, they still account for only around 5 percent of the market.
The company has recently launched new products in the lower and mid-tier range to protect its position in emerging markets, but analysts have said its success in the high-margin smartphone market will be crucial for its long-term survival.
Nokia is due to unveil its new Lumia strategy at an event in London next Tuesday.

Apple could price the budget iPhone around $350 and not lower: JP Morgan

There’s some more discussion around the budget iPhone and this time it is about the price. While many have been speculating that Apple will launch an iPhone with middling specifications for as little as $200, two analysts from JP Morgan think they have worked out what the actual price could be. They claim that the "budget" iPhone could sport a $350-400 price tag.

According to AllThingsD, the theory put forth by Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz, analysts from JP Morgan, has very strong historical precedents. They cite the example of the iPad mini, which was priced at $329 at its launch. Many felt that compared to its competition then, the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire, the mini was overpriced as the Nexus 7 started at $249 and Amazon’s media consumption tablet cost $199. They felt that this would make the iPad mini a difficult device to sell to the budget conscious. The roaring success of the iPad mini, however, has proved them wrong with almost 12 million of the smaller tablets being sold in the last quarter, making up almost 55 percent of the total iPad shipments and helping Apple maintain a near 40 percent share of the tablet market. The pricing of the iPad mini has thus helped Apple carve out a new slice of the tablet market with a middle price band of $329 and in the process, also dominate the tablet market as a whole.

The plastic back of the rumoured budget iPhone

A similar strategy was seen with the iPod nano. The launch price of $199 was again perceived as too expensive as the low-end MP3 players of that time were significantly cheaper. But the iPod nano proved to be immensely successful and ensured Apple’s near monopoly of the MP3 player market.

This strategy of sacrificing some of its margins in order to unlock yet another segment of the market has been spelled out by the company’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “We are managing the business for the long term and are willing to trade off short-term profits where we see long-term potential,” he said during Apple’s most recent earnings call.

According to JP Morgan, we could see this strategy being played out in the smartphone market too. The middle section of the smartphone market is dominated globally by Samsung. The Korean company has a market share of over 35 percent in the $200-500 price range. Apple’s current flagship smartphone iPhone 5 starts at $649. The analysts from JP Morgan opine that launching a new product in the $350-400 level could see Apple secure nearly 25 percent of that market share in a matter of just 12 months.

There is definitely a market for Apple phones in that range and the recent sellout of the two-generations-old iPhone 4 priced at Rs 26,000 (approx $480) in India is a good indication of that. A new Apple phone priced in and around Rs 20,000 ($350-400) will be in sync with its strategy thus far and help it grab a chunk of the smartphone pie in the middle segment.

Acer to launch 8.1-inch, 32GB Windows 8 tablet soon

Yesterday, we reported that Microsoft would be working on a 7.5-inch Windows 8 tablet in order to compete with Apple’s iPad mini and Google’s Nexus 7, both of which have been runaway hits. It turns out that this isn't the only small-sized Windows 8 tablet that we’ll be seeing.

An "accidental" listing on Amazon.com of an 8.1-inch, 32GB Windows 8 tablet by Acer was reported by PC World. The tablet was listed at a price of $379.99, which is extremely competitive given that a 32GB Wi-Fi-only iPad mini costs $429.00.

The listing was spotted during an event by Acer in New York where it unveiled a wide range of gadgets. The Taiwan-based company introduced a 15.6-inch Acer Aspire R7, an 11.6-inch Acer Aspire Ultrabook, the 7.9-inch Iconia A1 tablet and a series of touch notebook computers. The Iconia W3 that was listed on Amazon.com wasn’t unveiled, which is probably why the listing was yanked off in a matter of minutes.

The leaked listing (Image credit: PCWorld)

The listing of the Windows 8 tablet revealed that the 8.1-inch tablet was running on a 1.5GHz Intel processor and 2GB RAM. The presence of an x86 architecture processor means that the tablet would be running the full version of Windows 8 rather than the Windows RT OS. The leaked listing also showed that the tablet sports a 2MP rear camera, with no mention of a front-facing camera. The screen resolution was listed as 1280 x 800 pixels, which  is on par with the Nexus 7 and higher than the 1024 x 768 reslotion of the iPad mini.

The early range of Windows 8 tablets had displays that were 10 inches or larger and recently Microsoft has tweaked a whole lot of features and specs of the Windows 8 OS in order to make its environment compatible with tablets sporting smaller displays. The OS's hardware certification program recently reduced the minimum allowable screen resolution for Windows 8 tablets from 1366 x 768 down to 1024 x 768 pixels. The leaked builds of the Windows Blue update, which will be out soon, all sport a Snap feature that works well on smaller tablets. This is a major tweak as the feature worked only on displays with the approved 1366 x 768 resolution in the earlier version of the OS.

This new tablet by Acer is expected to be launched in the coming weeks and this along with the other rumoured smaller Windows 8 tablets will give Microsoft some chance of increasing its share in a market dominated by Android and iOS

16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 only has 8.84GB of user-accessible storage

Ever wonder why a Samsung flagship always has enough room for a microSD card, even with 16GB of space on board? Well, a look at the internal storage of the Galaxy S4 should make things clear. Samsung's base Galaxy S4 model is advertised to come with 16GB of storage, but a look at the Storage section of the Settings on a brand new Galaxy S4 reveals only 8.82GB is available to the user, according to Geek. 

That’s the total space available to users for installing apps and games, while the rest of the space is taken up by the OS and pre-loaded apps. In this case, that means Samsung’s own TouchWiz UI and apps like Samsung Hub and ChatOn, which are pre-installed on the phone.

Users of the Samsung Galaxy S4 can only access 8.84GB out of the 16GB internal storage

Having nearly half the memory taken up by the manufacturer’s software means that users are getting short-changed when they think they have bought a phone with 16GB of storage space. The wise thing to do then would be to get either the 32GB version or the 64GB model of the Galaxy S4. However, Indian fans of the smartphone will have to look to either the grey market or abroad for models with higher capacity, as only the 16GB version has been launched in India, as Samsung said during the launch. 

The HTC One, which is currently the S4’s main rival, lists 7.14GB as taken up by the Taiwanese company’s software. But because only a 32GB version of the One is currently available, the situation is still a lot better than the S4. At this rate, customers will be almost compelled to opt for a microSD card when buying the Samsung Galaxy S4 because of the lack of internal memory. 

Thankfully, the Galaxy S4’s microSD card slot supports cards up to 64GB in size, so if you can’t get your hands on a 32GB or 64GB version of the phone, best spend that extra money on a microSD card slot.

Samsung Galaxy Win Duos and Fame Duos to cost Rs 18,300 and Rs 10,999

Although it has launched its flagship Galaxy S4 in India, Samsung is not ignoring the low and mid-range segments. The company has quietly made the Galaxy Win Duos I8552 and Galaxy Fame Duos S6812 available in India. 

Mahesh Telecom, a dealer in smartphones and tablets, recently tweeted that the two phones are now available. The Galaxy Win Duos has been priced at Rs 18,300, while the lower-end Fame Duos costs Rs 10,999. It must be noted that Samsung has not yet officially launched the two phones, but an announcement is expected soon. 

The Galaxy Win Duos is clearly the better of the two handsets. The smartphone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 SoC, which has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and an Adreno 203 GPU. The Galaxy Win Duos has a 2,000mAh Li-ion battery.

Samsung Galaxy Win

Here’s a quick look at the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Win Duos

• 4.7-inch WVGA TFT LCD display
• Dual-SIM, 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS with A-GPS
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and 720 video recording
• VGA front-facing camera
• FM radio with RDS
• 8GB internal memory, microSD card support up to 32GB

The Galaxy Fame Duos is clearly a low-end smartphone. It has a 3.5-inch 480 x 320-pixel display, which is fairly near the bottom of the ladder. The company has also decided to grace the handset with a 1GHz single-core processor and 512MB of RAM. There's a 5-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing shooter at the front. Samsung has also bundled NFC (market-dependent) connectivity and GPS with GLONASS, which are nice additions over the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean experience.

Samsung Galaxy Fame

Here’s a quick look at the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Win Duos

• 3.5-inch capacitive touch display with 480 x 320 resolution
• Dual-SIM, EDGE/GPRS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and VGA front-facing camera
• FM radio with RDS, FM recording
• 4GB internal memory, microSD card support up to 64GB

The Galaxy Fame Duos has a 1300 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is perhaps one of the lowest capacity batteries we have seen on an Android smartphone this year.